The Grammy-award-winning singer claimed he could not stand by and ‘‘watch you attempt to destroy my Brother, you gun one you gun us all!’’.

Angry: Seal. Photo: Getty Images

In a series of furious tweets on Wednesday morning, Seal took aim at The Star and Australia’s ‘‘trash media’’ after a cleaner allegedly discovered less than five grams of cannabis in Madden's room at The Darling hotel in the Star casino about 4.30pm on Sunday.

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The hotel contacted police, however they did not arrive until about 10.30pm.

Madden, who had been staying at The Darling hotel for a few weeks, was present as police searched the room.

Joel Madden: drugs were found in his hotel room. Photo: Marco Del Grande

Fairfax understands the 34-year-old Good Charlotte frontman was asked to leave the hotel immediately.

Investigations are continuing but no charges have been laid. NSW law permits authorities to issue a simple caution over such a small amounts of drugs.

Seal claimed that The Star had asked Madden, who is also a coach on the hit Channel Nine series, The Voice, to meet a cancer victim at the hotel, before his room initially was searched.

He tweeted: "homeless shelters, provide time and love for disabled kids, represent at the Logies and not to mention bring hope to aspiring artists... across the nation with his authenticity and heart. Yet having a joint in the privacy of his hotel room is worthy of front page news??? cont.

"Way to respect a guest in your country trash media, way to make us feel welcome. Keep it up..sure we’ll be back next year. and yes, I say we

"because it’s just a matter of time before you gun us all down. Hell, you even it you’re own @DeltaGoodrem who’s a national treasure!!

"It’s a shame. I for one will not stand by and watch you attempt to destroy my Brother, you gun one you gun us all! Shame one the Star cont..

"you ask him to meet n greet a cancer victim in your hotel then send police to his room?? Nice…very classy..keep it up Judas. I’m done here.

"can’t wait to go home."

He deleted those tweets a short time later, before tweeting:

"I was NOT slamming Australia, I was and still am slamming the TRASH MEDIA! I stand by my Bro and WILL NOT BE BOUGHT!"

That tweet was then deleted, leaving the comment:

@thevoiceau @joelmadden All my Brother has done since he’s been here is serve this country by attending numerous kids hospitals cont…..

Madden said in a statement: "Sunday while I was at work, a hotel employee found a small amount of marijuana in my hotel room. The police were called and responded. Sydney is my adopted home and I appreciate the way the NSW police handled the situation. They have informed me there will be no charges. I hope this didn't cause too much drama for everyone."

A spokesperson for Echo entertainment said it was the company's policy to exclude anyone caught with prohibited drugs, and that rule applied to Madden.

"He was not afforded any special treatment and he's moved out," the spokesman said.

The regulator had also been notified, he said.

A spokeswoman for Channel 9 said that police had told the TV station that no charges would be brought against Mr Madden.

“I mean even Obama’s smoked pot,” said Ross. “I don’t know if he keeps it in the White House, but . . . yeah.”

Ross said “[Joel’s] just a legend, he changed my life. And I think his radiance will outshine this particular incident."

Ross said it was unlikely Madden’s run-in with police would affect Monday’s grand final of The Voice.

“It can’t affect him because he is who he is,” Ross said. “It’s not going to change him, nothing’s going to change who he is.

“I personally don’t think Australia’s going to write him off for it either,” he added.

Ross is one of four singers in the grand final, alongside Harrison Craig, Celia Pavey and Luke Kennedy.

The singer said being on the show had exposed him to numerous mainstream opinions and Australia's conservative side, so he could see why some parents would be upset.

“It’s one of those things, Australia’s funny. I guess I’ve gotten to know what the mainstream opinion feels like a little bit and how conservative we are as a society,” Ross said. “That’s actually cool, I’m fond of that.”

The news has been met with much more humour and support than outrage on Twitter.

A small minority expressed disappointment in Madden, such as @JohnJohnsonson, who said "So disappointed in Joel Madden for getting himself involved in that terrible business (Star City Casino)."

But a vast majority of fans were firmly behind their man, while most tweets from casual observers in the Twitter community saw it as no surprise and riffed on the news as fodder for jokes about pot smoking, Madden himself or The Voice in general.

@TBoner said: "Reporting that a rock star like Joel Madden has weed is like reporting that its snowing in Antarctica".

@adam_wilkinson tweeted: "All of a sudden people are shocked Joel Madden does drugs? Do these people not see his hair on the Voice every week?", while Ryan Fitzgerald (@FitzySA) followed that theme: "I think it's pretty obvious the weed belonged to Joel Madden's hairdresser".

@_BeckDavis was one of many to link the find to his appetite for KFC: "At least we know why Joel Madden eats so much KFC."

240 comments

Joel Madden "international rockstar" as described lately give me a break "Good Charlotte" were not even as popular as Matchbox 20 ...obv making more money out of The Voice than his band. And describing him as a vocal coach or similar.....u r kidding.

Commenter

steveos

Location

Date and time

June 12, 2013, 12:47PM

Look, Americans never quite figured out how to do punk. They could do pop-punk, a la Good Charlotte, or a rock-punk, like Pink, but they could never step over the line into punk.

meh, maybe the Dead Kennedys.

But Good Charlotte was still classic.

Casino's are hypocrites on all levels, I don't know why he was staying in a casino in the first place.

Get the hell outta there, the place was a crud joint to begin with.

Commenter

sarajane

Location

melbourne

Date and time

June 12, 2013, 1:55PM

Haha bye bye Seal! We have enough of our own D class celebrity 'singers' without you muddying the waters. Hell, lets get the rest of the Spice Girls out here to judge everyone of our so called talent shows at least they're nice to look at.

Commenter

Coley1970

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Date and time

June 12, 2013, 2:18PM

I've never heard of them. I didn't even read the article.

Commenter

Ghris

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Date and time

June 12, 2013, 2:25PM

Me thinks Joel will just fade into the dustbin of history.

Commenter

doug b

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Date and time

June 12, 2013, 2:26PM

@sarajane, US bands invented punk. The Stooges, The Ramones in the early 70s followed work done by 60s bands like the 13th Floor Elevators. The mid 70s bands like Sex Pistols picked up on the US stuff and it went from there.

You got that so wrong sarajane. Did you mean to say "out of the artists that i know, America doesn't do punk". like alto said- you missed a whole lot including the "godfather of punk"- Lou Reed. Typical Melbournian...

Commenter

chelseaf

Location

tumba

Date and time

June 12, 2013, 3:09PM

Wonder if the casino would dob in a pot smoking high roller? Doubt it.